Reports — some of them from our readers — are circulating that thieves are hacking their way into Xbox Live accounts, perhaps in greater numbers than usual. While Microsoft says it has no evidence that there is an Xbox Live security breach, the Xbox Live general manager says support teams are working hard to retrieve swiped accounts and protect users from threats.

Nathan tried to save some money on his Xbox Live subscription by buying a prepaid $50 card to avoid having to pay the recently increased annual fee of $60. While he did so, he failed to replace his expired credit card on file with a valid card.

Reader P bought a new Xbox 360 after his old console descended to Red Ring of Death hell. Having forgotten his Xbox Live password, P endured the arduous process of attempting to recover the password through Microsoft. The way P describes it, doing so was as simple and user-friendly as spinal surgery.

Scott tried to take advantage of an Xbox Live promotion that would net him 800 points ($10) of bonus money if he spent 2400 points ($30) in a set amount of time. He spent the required amount of money, then received a message from a Microsoft customer service rep that said he’d get the 800 points if he kept waiting.

When N’s Halo 3 Xbox 360 gave up the ghost, he sent it in for repair, but apparently Covenant forces have intervened because now the console is lost and not even the eagle-eyed scouts at Microsoft have been able to track it down. N has been hounding Microsoft since early October but he’s no closer to bringing his Xbox back from the void.

While submitting his busted Xbox 360 for repair, Ben stumbled upon a valuable piece of info for those whose have suffered multiple system breakdowns: A special phone number that expedites the shipping your refurbished replacement console, provided you have your reference number and the extension of a CSR who helped you with your problem when you called 1-800-4MY-XBOX. We first reported the secret number (1-888-236-0927) two years ago.

Jeff can no longer play his two Xbox 360s online because Microsoft has banned him with no explanation. When he calls customer service, he says he’s accused of modding his consoles, which he insists he hasn’t.